Aquatic Mammals - A Historical Perspective

Dr. Nachtigall’s area of research interest primarily focuses on the sensory systems of odontocetes, including projects on low frequency hearing and temporary threshold shifts, phantom echolocation, echolocation detection of fishing nets to avoid bycatch, evoked auditory potentials and audiometric studies, hearing in echolocating whales, and rehabilitation and care for stranded cetaceans. 

Dr. Nobuyuki Miyazaki began his career as a research associate with the University of Ryukyus, Japan.  He obtained his Ph.D. in 1975, in Agriculture.  His thesis dealt with the “School structure of the striped dolphin”. He established a Japanese research team focused on understanding marine pollution and hazardous chemicals using marine mammals as an indicator and he has published more than 270 English and 13 Japanese peer-reviewed papers, 9 English and 51 Japanese books, and 7 English and 107 Japanese reports, and 316 presentations at National and International Conferences.  

Dr. Søren Andersen is perhaps best known for his work with harbor porpoise in the 1960s and 70s but had an exceptionally diverse career doing other things that interested him.

Dr. Lee Miller is known for his work in both marine mammal and terrestrial acoustics. He has always had one foot on land and one in the water.  His research focuses on hearing, sound communication, and biosonar in bats, toothed whales, and insects.

Dr. Gentry once wrote “Everyone I knew in the 1960s got into marine mammal research by chance. No one I knew back then planned to enter the field or had influential friends pulling strings. If one was in the right place at the right time and had an interest in the right subject, opportunities came their way.”

Dr. Robert (Bob) Brownell is known for his work on the biology and conservation of whales, dolphins, and porpoises globally, with most of his studies conducted in Mexico, South America, Japan, and Russia.  

Dr. John Nightingale was well known for his work at the Vancouver aquarium.  He was CEO of the aquarium for 25 years. More recently, he was known for co-founding the non-profit organization Ocean Wise, which endeavors to protect the world's oceans and address the sustainable seafood issues. Dr. Nightingale spent his time on the planet trying to save life on Earth 

Dr. Yasuhiko Naito is a Japanese scientist who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo and began his career by working with harbor seals in Hokkaido and north in the Sea of Okhotsk in the 1960s and early 1970s.  He pursued the study of marine mammals when he began at the National Institute of Polar Research in 1978 and is probably best known for his use of animal-borne devices, or ABDs as they are known in the bio-logging scientific circles.  

Dr. Lockyer is a British scientist. In this episode she talks about how she entered the marine mammal field, her work in Bio-energetics, working for NAMMCO and much more.

In this episode I talk with Dr. Helene Marsh about her career path, her students, her varied research and marine mammal swim programs in Australia.